The title currently showing the world how well indie games can sell, Hades, has ꦫactually been around for quite a while. The title was released into Early Access back in December 2018 and was actually &🐓quot;locked" to the Epic Game Store for an entire year.
That said, this 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Greek Mythos roguelike masterpiece has been out on Switch since September and even longer on Steam. There has been plenty of time for people to get good at efficiently cleaning out mobs of enemies, maximizing movement to save time, and even blitzing through boss fights in less than a minute. For those feeling up to the challenge of speedrunning Hades, it's actually quite easy to start if someone has a hefty save file they built up by escaping the underworld plenty of times. If not, there are 100 percent saves available for download.
Updated August 27th, 2021, by Jacob Buchalter: Hades was always a very popular speedrunning game, even from its Early Access days. And, that still applies nowadays, with YouTubers and Streamers still constantly coming out with new World Record attempts, tier lists on which Boons or Weapon Aspects are the best, and more.
Additionally, Hades Speedrunning is pretty 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:approachable for new people too, especially compared to a lot of other games, thanks to its enjoyable combat and 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:design based around replayability. So, with the game recently releasing on all modern consoles 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:as well as the Xbox Game Pass, we figured it was as good a time as any to take another look through the most well-known speedrunning tips and let you know all about them.
12 🎃 Versatility Matters 🦩
Sure you can run certain “seeds” in Hades where you’ll test it beforehand and see what your Boon handouts will be. But, even then, there are still a l෴ot of variables in Hades that might reꦕquire you to switch up Zag’s build on the fly.
If you can’t adjust to a necessary Daedalus Hammer Upgrade or specific Boon not showing up🏅, then you’re going to run into some trouble both speedrunning Hades and just enjoying it in general.
11 L♐earn About Dodge Chance & Use It Well 🍨
The Dodge Chance stat in Hades is often massively undervalued by casual players, but the hardcore veterans and speedrunners know just how useful pumping this buff can be🌺. Basically, Dodge Chance works like you would think it does, when you get hit you have a certain chance to avoid the damage being applied, based on your current Dodge Chance percentage.
That said, even though there are quite a few ways to increase Dodge Chance through the use of the Lambent Plume Keepsake, the Twin Fists of Malphon, some of Hermes Boons, and the ꦛRuthless Reflex Mirror of Night ability, you can never really get “100 percent Dodge Chance”. The game might say you have 100+ Dodge Chance, b♌ut that doesn’t mean you’re invincible, as there seems to be some sort of hard cap to it in the code of the game. Still, it’s a stat you’ll want to become very familiar with if speedrunning Hades seems like a fun thing to try.
10 Figure Out How Hades' Seed & Give Up Option Works
First and foremost, ♛pote✃ntial speedrunners need to know how "Seeds" work in Hades. Hades is a roguelike, and like most other games in that genre, it means that a lot of its mechanics are randomized per run. From the layout of each chamber to the rewards after each Encounter, every run of Hades is widely different unless players lock in a "Seed."
Normally, in other games that use “Seeds”, you could just enter the code associated with your run to generate the exact same variables again and again. But, why would you do this? Well, if, for example, you have a ridiculously lucky run but don't think that you’ll make it all the way through due to some early mistake, you can use the "Give Up" option in Hades’ pause menu and return to the Courtyard outside Zagreus’ room without resetting the run's Seed and, therefore, its rewards.
9 Memorize What B🦩oons Are Required For Other Boons To Appear
Using Duo Boons or Legendary Boons is kind of mandatory for a decent speedrun. In fact, most if not all of th♈e most overpowered builds for Zagreus have either a Duo or Legendary Boon at their core. But, in order for either of these 🍸Boon-types to show up, you have to fulfill certain prerequisites:
- Duo Boons: These Boons are the product of two168澳洲幸运5开奖网: of the Olympic Gods working together and as such, they require you to have one or two specific Boons from a list of possible options from both Gods involved in the Duo Boon. Once you have a Boon from each God’s list, then the Duo Boon has a chance to start showing up during either God’s Boon selection menu.
- Legendary Boons: These follow the same sort of logic as Duo Boons, where you’re required to obtain one or two prerequisite Boons before these have a chance of appearing, but Legendary Boons are specific to one God, so the prerequisite Boons are too.
Picking a build, a favorite Legendary Boon, or a favorite Duo Boon means that you should probably memorize or keep nearby a list of what their prerequisites are so that you💞 can manipulate the game as much as possible to get these ungodly powerful Boons to show up all the time.
8 ꧃ Personal Weapon Preference Still Matte🃏rs
Hades is one of those rare games where personal preference can still play a big part, even in speed runs. Some games have a 100 percent ironclad way to speedrun them and using any other method is worthless. But, Hades has so many variables at play that an Adamant Rail speedrun run can sometimes be twice as fast as a Stygian Blade run and vice-versa, especially🐈 keeping the game’s Aspect system in mind.
Don't throw personal preferences such as favorite Keepsakes, Boons. or Companions out the window when running Hades, as there's no need. Though, that said, some Weapon Aspect and Boon combinations are still leaps and bounds above the rest.
7 Pause Aไs Soon As Room Reward Preview Pops Up ꦬ
To sum thiꦓs one up quickly, if the game is paused, the timer stops. Therefore, speedrunners should pause Hades as soon as the room rewards appear after a room is cleared in the little glass bubbles abo༺ve the doors leading to the next Encounter.
Learning how to do this frame-perfect and using it often does actually give you a ton more time to think about your path⛄ going forward in a run and also helps keep the pressure off so you don’t accidentally take the Daedalus Hammer door when you meant to take the Boon one.
6 Thanatos Rooms Are Better Than You'd Think
Now, it might seem like Hades' "special" chambers ruin speed runs, but they don't. The clock actually pauses for many different activities, such as when Zagreus fishes (168澳洲幸运5开奖网:something he's surprisingly good at), durin🦂g a Survival Room, or in the little rest areas between two Biomes where Zag can peruse the Well of Charon or switch Keepsakes.
It pauses during Thanatos Rooms as well, meaning these rooms are actually a Godsend rather than a curse since they still technically count as an Encounter leading up to the boss room. It is pretty easy to out-kill Thanatos (most of the time), and if Zag beats him, he's rewarded with a Centaur Heart on top of the reward the room already promised ahead of time.
5 🍸 Never Go Higher Than Extreme Measures +2
Extreme Measures is a Pact of Punishment option where players can get some extra Heat 🔯increase in exchange for making the bosses of each biome harder (The Fury Sisters, Lernie, Theseus/Asterius, and Hades). With each rank up, Extreme Measures adds an additional mechanic or aspect to each boss fight, starting with the Fury Sisters and continuing from there. In order:
- For the Fury Sisters, there will now be a “primary” sister you fight, and the other two show up as these sort of “summons” that add additional attacks. Not too much of a change, and they’re still very easy to deal with compared to the other bosses.
- For Lernie the Bone Hydra, Extreme Measures +2 changes the arena itself, has it spawn more supporting heads, and gives it a few additional attacks. This change is absolutely a step up in difficulty, but it also makes some aspects easier, since the supporting heads are more grouped up and therefore easier to kill.
- But, for Theseus and Asterius, Extreme Measures +3 is never worth it, as the changes to their boss fight are way too drastic and makes taking them out take way too long. Basically, both Asterius and Theseus get new armor and toys to play with, more health, and more unavoidable attacks.
- And, let's not even talk about Extreme Measure 4 and how it makes Hades almost twice as difficult as he normally is.
So, if you’re trying to speedrun with a certain amount of Heat enabled, keep Extreme Measures at +2, as the +3 and +4 levels are just never worth it, n🥂o matter how good you think you are.
4 Forced Overtime +2 Isn't Worth It, But +1 Just Might Be
Forced Overtime is another Pact of Punishment option, but this one is risky even on its lowest settings. What does turning it on increase exactly? Well, the ov🧔erall speed of the enemies by about 20 percent and 40 percent depending on the level. This ♛increase applies to a lot of things, such as
- The speed at which enemies spawn.
- How quickly they move around the arena.
- How fast their animations are.
- And it even reduces the time between their attacks.
While it sounds like making enemies spawn faster would save a lot of time, Hades is already chaotically fast-paced, even more so 🌳with the Pact of Punishment, and this is just a step too far.
A lot of enemies are just straight up twice as hard to kill with a 4♌0 percent speed increase or have attacks that you almost have to start trying to dodge before they even start using them♎. The 20 percent increase at Forced Overtime’s first rank is doable and even recommended for speed runs, but the 40 percent increase is not.
3 🌳 If Trove Rooms Are Annoying, Use⭕ The Tight Deadline Heat Option
Tꦆhe last thing we’ll be talking about specific to the Pact of Punishment is Tight Deadline, an option that is basically catered for speedruns. Essentially, with every level of Tight Deadline:
A time requirement to beat each Underworld Region, starting at nine minutes and adding an additional five minutes whenever you reach 🅘a new biome. Every rank increase decreases that initial nin🦂e-minute timer by two minutes. When that timer runs out, Zagreus starts taking consistent damage per second, and that damage is pretty sizeable too.
The timer pauses during most actions where the game’s innate timer pauses as well, such as when Zagreus is picking a boon, fishing, or in a non-combat NPC room such as Sisyphus’, Patroclus’, or Eurydice’s✅. So it’s safe to say that this is a pretty harsh Pact of Punishment option (though the first rank is pretty generous). And, for their own safety, speedrunners seem to keep it on Rank Two maxed.
But, the neatest feature of this option isn’t the timer or even the Heat increase, it’s the fact that while enabled, those Trove Rooms where Hades sends infinite enemies after you for a set amount of time, will no longer appear. These Encounters were always annoying, and they’re actually preཧtty insanely difficult depending on what Pact of Punishment modifiers you have enabled, so it’s good that there’s an option that just straight up takes them out of the possible variables.